Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76232 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“Well, whatever,” she said, feeing slightly breathless at the intensity on his face. “I’m sorry to hear it didn’t work out with Claudia. Was she upset?”
“More surprised, I think,” he said, staring absently down at the flowers.
“Well, it does seem like it came up suddenly. What changed?”
His gaze flicked to hers just as her desk phone rang. She let it ring once, twice, giving him a chance to answer. When he didn’t, she picked up the receiver. “Wolfe Investments, this is Kate.”
It was Sylvia Reid, one of Matt’s more high-maintenance clients, who couldn’t—or didn’t want to—grasp the fact that Matt was currently in a meeting with someone else. By the time Kate wrapped up the phone call, all but signing away her firstborn on the promise that yes, Matt would call her back as soon as possible, Kennedy had walked away, his office door closed.
Fine. It was just as well. He was in a weird mood, and she wasn’t at all sure she had the emotional energy to deal with it. And then the phone started ringing off the hook, and she literally didn’t have time to deal with it.
An hour or so later, Sabrina came sauntering into the office, all long legs, five-inch heels, and a tight-fitting gray dress that would have been forgettable on Kate but showed off Sabrina’s feminine figure to perfection.
Sabrina carried two Starbucks cups and handed one to Kate, which she took in surprise. “Isn’t this for Matt?”
“He can get his own. Plus, I’ve spent enough time in this office to know you need it more,” Sabrina said, running a finger along one of the yellow rosebuds. “Pretty. Yours?”
“Yeah, Jack sent them.” Kate took a sip of the coffee. It was an iced caramel macchiato and beyond delicious.
“Hmm,” Sabrina said thoughtfully, rubbing a petal between her fingers.
“What hmm?”
Sabrina took a sip of her coffee. “How was the opera?”
“I liked it. I mean, I’ll be honest, some of the arias, or whatever, got a little monotonous—”
“I’ll rephrase,” Sabrina interrupted. “How was the opera with Jack? How was the date itself?”
“It was nice.”
“Yeah,” Sabrina said a little sadly. “I thought so.”
“What? I said it was nice!”
“Okay, but let’s pause for a second and imagine Jack in his office right now.”
Kate merely looked at her.
Sabrina snapped her fingers in Kate’s face. “Close your eyes! Picture it.”
Kate rolled her eyes first, but then did as her friend ordered, closing her eyes and trying to imagine Jack at this very instant. It took her a second to call his face to mind. She realized she hadn’t given much thought to Jack unless he was in the same room.
“Now,” Sabrina said, “imagine one of his coworkers stops by his desk and asks about his weekend. ‘How was your date?’ And Jack says, ‘It was nice.’”
Kate winced as she saw the point her friend was making.
A nice date was barely a date at all. Not one that mattered. Nice sounded tired. Apathetic. Even worse, it sounded like something Kennedy would say about one of his dates.
Which reminded her . . .
“Kennedy and Claudia broke up,” Kate blurted out as she opened her eyes.
Sabrina’s eyebrows went up. “Interesting.”
“Would you quit with that,” Kate hissed, looking around to make sure nobody could hear. “Quit acting like some sort of cryptic love Obi-Wan, and spit out whatever you’re thinking.”
“All right.” Sabrina leaned closer, lowering her voice as she pointed at the flowers. “Have you at any point ever told Jack that yellow is your favorite color or that yellow roses are your favorite flower?”
“No. I don’t think we’ve ever talked about flowers.”
Sabrina let out the tiniest sigh. “I figured as much. Yellow roses signify friendship, babe. Generally speaking, they are not the romantic choice. Which I wouldn’t even be telling you, because I wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings. But then I asked about the opera, and you told me about stupid arias, not about Jack himself, not about the kiss—”
“How did you know we kissed?”
Sabrina grinned around her green straw. “I didn’t. Now I do. Just like how I know it was blah.”
“Okay, seriously. The know-it-all thing is really annoying.”
“Tell me I’m wrong about any of it,” Sabrina said.
Kate picked up a pad of Post-it Notes and ran her thumb across it, fanning the pages as she looked at the flowers and considered Sabrina’s assessment. “Okay, fine.” She tossed the pad aside. “I do know that yellow roses usually are intended to signify friendship. I’ve practically made a career out of ordering flowers on behalf of the guys. Thank-you flowers, celebration flowers, sympathy flowers, romantic flowers . . . But I hardly think that Jack or any of the guys see yellow roses and are like, ‘Oh look, friendship flowers.’”
Sabrina frowned. “Wait, back up. Who have you sent romantic flowers for? If you say Matt, I want a name. I want this woman’s name, her address—”